Survey Data Analysis

Once your research objectives are established and the survey analysis method decided upon, the survey research process can be organized simply into four stages: Survey Design, Data Collection, Survey Data Analysis, and Reporting. While there are many excellent tools available to help with the first two steps, there are comparatively few robust survey data analysis and reporting tools.

Most tools are too basic and don’t offer important statistical testing capabilities, flexible crosstabbing and charting, or the ability to export to PowerPoint. Most of these tools are also restricted for use only with certain data collection systems. At the other end of the spectrum, there are some very expensive, legacy software systems requiring an advanced degree in market research, considerable expertise in statistical analysis, and weeks of intensive training to learn how to use.

MarketSight combines the features of the most advanced tools for professionals with the ease-of-use and convenience of a web-based application, making it the perfect solution for anyone doing survey data analysis. And of course, MarketSight works with any survey dataset – whether it’s in SPSS, Dimensions, SurveyMonkey, Triple-S, SAS, or Excel format.

MarketSight Text Response Data

Common Questions about Survey Data Analysis

What is typically involved in doing survey data analysis?
Analyzing survey data is not a complex process. What you’re trying to
do is look for connections between different survey questions and the
characteristics of your respondents.
You start by looking at a summary report of the entire survey, which
MarketSight conveniently creates for you automatically.
From there, you can create your own crosstabs, which is very easy to
do: you simply drag and drop survey questions onto rows and columns to
create a table that shows how many people in a particular group
answered each question in a certain way.

Statistical tests are run automatically in MarketSight, so you just
need to look for the highlighted cells and read the pop-ups to find
the significant findings – something no other crosstab tools offers.
From there you can create charts based on these tables or crosstabs
for viewing online or instant export to PowerPoint.
It’s really quite easy!

Will MarketSight be able to help me analyze survey data from any type of survey?
Yes, as long as your data is in SPSS, Dimensions, SurveyMonkey, Triple-S,
SAS, or Excel file format, MarketSight will read that data and help you
analyze it.

I don’t have a lot of experience with survey data analysis. How long will it take me to learn how to use MarketSight?
Not long at all, actually. Our online training videos are built right
into the product and only take a couple of minutes to watch for each
feature you’re trying to learn. MarketSight was designed from the
start to be easy to learn and easy to use –whether you’re a trained
market researcher or analyzing survey data for the first time.

My survey tool has analysis and reporting built in. Why do I need MarketSight?
The analysis and reporting features available with most survey tools
are very basic and limited to percentages and averages. They also
don’t have the ability to create charts and export those charts
directly to PowerPoint. If you want to make sure your results are
scientifically valid using completely automated statistical testing
and if you want to be able to produce a complete PowerPoint deck from
your survey data - on your own PowerPoint Template, then you
absolutely need MarketSight!

I’m a market researcher by training and I’ve used SPSS before, but I
don’t want to pay for all the features in SPSS that aren’t relevant to
survey data analysis. Is MarketSight a good alternative to SPSS?
Yes. MarketSight is used by thousands of market researchers around the
world and many of them have switched from SPSS to MarketSight for that
very reason. Why overpay for features you don’t need in a legacy
desktop application? MarketSight has the right features. It’s
delivered online as a web-based product. It costs much less and it’s
easier to use.

How easy is it to export charts from MarketSight to PowerPoint?
It only takes two clicks to export one chart – or one hundred charts –
from MarketSight to PowerPoint. Plus, you can export directly your
company’s PowerPoint template, complete with your logo, background
color, fonts, copyright, and all of your chart preferences.

If I get stuck on a particular part of the process, does MarketSight
provide support to help me?
Absolutely. MarketSight provides telephone and email-based support
every business day, so you’ll always have help if you need it.

I think I can handle the data analysis process and MarketSight sounds
very easy to use. My concern is with data upload? How easy is it to
get my data into MarketSight so I can begin the analysis and reporting
process?
Uploading data is just like opening a file on your computer. From the
MarketSight file manager, called the Navigator, right-click on any
folder and choose ‘Upload Dataset’. Then choose the dataset from the
appropriate folder on your computer and click OK. That’s all there is
to it: the file is copied to MarketSight and ready for analysis within
seconds.
I have lots of clients that want to view datasets and be able to
interact with them online. Can I use MarketSight for my clients so
they can have access to their data?
Yes. In fact, many of our clients use MarketSight as their primary
delivery platform for data, crosstabs, charts, and reports for all
their research projects. By hosting everything online in a secure,
password-protected environment, it’s very easy to provide clients
access to your work in a way that’s interactive, but also preserves
the original data and all of your analytical work accompanying that
data. The clients create their own crosstabs and charts (if you grant
that capability) and your original work is read-only. There’s a lot
that can be done in this area. Please contact an account
representative to learn more.

We have a pretty well-integrated system for designing surveys and
collecting data and doing some analysis and reporting. What we’d like
to do is integrate a tool like MarketSight into our existing system
and automate the data delivery process and the reporting process. Does
MarketSight have any APIs that we can use to do this integration?
Yes. MarketSight has a rich set of APIs that will enable you to
automatically load data, authenticate users of your existing system
using single-sign-on, automate the creation of crosstabs and charts,
and also create your own interface for creating and manipulating
MarketSight items, behind the scenes, and delivering results back to
your system.